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tote bag tour by Gloria Z. '26

i have so many things to carry

I don’t know how it started exactly–a nice lug of canvas here, a floppy rectangle of yellow there. I tried my best to retreat under the guise of functionality: this one’s dark enough to hold tubes of paint, and that one’s foldable enough to take on the go, I cried silently. I need something sturdy enough for my laptop and all of its accessories–and something short enough to swing from my grasp without scraping the ground. That one’s the perfect size for my A5 notebook, and that one’s big enough to hold my winter jacket… Each one just a little different, just enough to justify their place on my designed tote bag command hook. But soon I could hide no longer–I was in it for good, and I wasn’t going to stop. And that… that was the beginning of the end.

ok basically I have a lot of tote bags (25 exactly) so here are all of them:

the ones I use the most

these are my daily drivers, my day ones, my most functional and (relatively) neutral color palette bags

a white canvas bag with pins on it
i got this white canvas bag for free from my high school ap art class! she's been through a lot, evidently
a large green/brown woven bag
my mom gave this to me randomly. it is massive and fits so much (safety glasses for scale)
a black and white canvas bag that says mit mad on it
free bag I got from mit mad (morningside academy of design), has many pockets and is sturdy!
a black and white canvas bag
the other side of the mad bag <3
a black bag with numbers and text on it
free bag from mit architecture department! course 4 has the best merch fr

the ones I made

(mostly)

a blue bag with a floral pattern and white handles
i sewed this bag from scrap fabric! unfortunately the strap material is kind of weird and floppy 💔
an off white bag with a 3x3 printed grid pattern
i didn't sew this bag, but i block printed the design onto it with a carved lino stamp
a black and white bag with beige straps
this was my first ever sewing project! she's less misshapen in real life, but very small
a small, wrinkled white bag
ditto for sewing

the rgb trio

title says it all

a red bag with the pg-13 label on it
i got this at poster house, a graphic design museum in nyc! they had a very neat exhibit about movie poster design
a green bag with boston art book fair on it
as you might expect i got this at the boston art book fair (for free!). it was a super cool event with so many talented artists, highly recommend
a cobalt blue bag with yellow text on it
i got this at a record store during a spring break trip to portland maine with my friends <3

spring picnic vibes

imagine these paired with a cheese board and 70 degree weather

a white canvas bag with a drawing of a boy on it
my most expensive bag! i bought it from a creator i follow online
a green striped bag with a pocket
smaller and sturdier than you'd think, comes with buttons and zippers
a green bag with red straps and yellow text
my mom got me this from vietnam last year! i like the color of the straps a lot

graphicscore

like they have big graphics on them you know (I’m trying to come up with categorizations)

a purple bag with infinite on it in orange font
infinite magazine 2023 tote bags!
a white bag with the target logo on it in red
lowkey i just thought this was a funny idea for a bag. got this from target as you might have guessed
a yellow bag with a picture of a hot dog on it and Roy Lichtenstein written
one of my oldest bags, i got this from uniqlo when they did a Roy Lichtenstein collection! he was an artist from the pop art era
blue bag with a grid of smiley faces and alpha chi written on it
i bought this from the sorority i used to be in, i like the color a lot still!
a black bag with the word whitney repeated on it
i got this from the whitney museum in nyc this past spring break, when i went to see the 2024 biennial :)

more bags i got for free

aka the rest

a black bag with the mit meche logo on it
honestly i would use this more, but it's not the best quality :(
a black bag with the mit meche logo on it in white
i actually like this one a lot, it's pretty structured so it's good for groceries, large items, etc.
a black bag with xfair 2024 written on it in green text
i got this for free from xfair (a career fair held in feb by an mit club). they also gave out frog plushies!
a black bag that says mlk day open house on it
the mfa (museum of fine arts) was having an event on mlk day, and besides totes, they were also giving out plastic ice cream scoops ??
a white bag that says burton conner on it in colorful text
burton conner!
a gray bag with goldman sachs on it in blue text
i got this from the career fair for free, but the color scheme is actually pretty cool..? not sure if i would walk around with a goldman sachs bag though

That’s all of the bags I have… for now. But I’m always trying to get that bag so I will continue to keep my eyes peeled.

(I do actually use most of my totes, but I also just enjoy collecting them as functional mementos of a place or event I’ve been to. I think it’s nice how they come with those memories, and then you build more with them as you use them. Also they’re so easy to store and bring along on trips and outings!)